Oprah just pledged 10 million of her own money to the Gulf and

[Booster]

has a registry on her website where you have many options of how you want to help, from either donating what you can or buying whatever items you want. I knew she would come through big time and you can bet her Angel Network will make sure that money goes to the poor and not to Bush's cronies.
Edit to add website: www.oprah.com

[Deja Q]

1. Nice. Actually noble. What a groovy diva she is!

:yourock:

[SoFlaJet]

3. she is so great

and I was never a big fan-but I'll say this she walks the walk

[CrispyQ]

2. Does anyone know how much boosh pledged?

I would be surprised if the pledged on dime.

Oprah rocks.

[jmm]

12. Jeb Bush gave $20

Guess he went broke after legal problems with his kids and when his wife tried to smuggle $20,000 of jewes out of France.

[Auntie Bush]

47. Now you are not being fair to poor Jebby.

I happen to know (crossed fingers) that he donated $25.00.
Give credit where credit is due.

[donheld]

4. Very much a class act

Oprah is one of the best.

[Beaverhausen]

5. Oprah definitely gives back to the community

Good for her!!!

[goclark]

6. Go Sister Opraah! Go! Go!

Now Bill Gates what are you going to do?

and Sir Bush?

[Missy Vixen]

49. I realize it's not popular here to stick up for Bill Gates

but I'm going to do it. We live ten miles from the world headquarters of Microsoft. In the interest of disclosure, neither DH or I work for them.

The Gates Foundation was endowed with $1 BILLION (yes, that's billion with a "B",) of Bill and Melinda Gates' money. The Gates Foundation has been doing stuff like literacy training in America, combating hunger and disease in third world countries, and attempting to arrest the spread of AIDS via research and medications in Africa. Bill Gates has also said that he intends to leave relatively modest (for his wealth,) trusts for their three kids; he and his wife believe they have a mission to help the world with their wealth instead. If you'd like to read up on them, they're at http://www.gatesfoundation.org. (By the way, they're stating on their site that they have donated $3 million to hurricane relief at this time.)

I might also mention that William Gates, Sr., fought hard against the repeal of the estate tax, and continues to fight against it.

Bill Gates may be a lot of things, but I have to hand it to him and his wife for their tireless dedication to philanthropy.

Julie

[VOX]

7. Good for her! Lead by example. n/t

[in_cog_ni_to]

8. She's always so generous with her money.

I'm still mad at her for helping Ahhhhhhhhnold get elected in Ca.:spank: I'll never forgive her for that, but I will always be grateful for her kindness and generosity to people in need. She's a kindhearted soul.

[Cha]

31. Wonder if she regrets the shit

outta helping the shovelnator ooze into the governor's seat in California?

If she pays attention and I know she does then she probably stays up nights and kicks herself. Same with Jamie Lee. They both had fucking stars in their eyes.

[LostinVA]

32. Maria Shriver is a very old friend of hers

So, she wasn't helping Arnold as much as Maria, who befriended her when Oprah was poor, black, unknown and starting out. Unfortunately, her loyalty may have helped that idiot get elected....

[Cha]

52. Yeah, I read that story.

I know Oprah cares for people and arnie the tool doesn't ..so they are definetly at cross purposes.

[pnorman]

9. I'd like to get this out further.

However, I can't find anything on the website that mentions that $10M pledge. Can you steer me to it?

pnorman

[tishaLA]

11. She talked about it on her show

And she has a registry set up on her site to help you give if you want to.

[Booster]

13. Click on the box to the left that says "Katrina".

[sunnystarr]

16. Her 10 million will be used to build new homes

You can donate as little as a toaster or as big as another new home and everything in between. Or you can donate cash. I thought it was an excellent idea. Donations will be used to furnish the homes she has built.

[flordehinojos]

10. this 10 million oprah is donating to the N.O. would be so much more

acceptable in my mind if the federal government were keeping up its part by taxing people and using our tax dollars for the welfare of the people in New Orleans and elsewhere in these United States where people need help!

[babyk]

14. thats like 10 cents

what does she have 100 billion?

[girl gone mad]

15. Less than a billion, I'm sure.

Plus a lot of her fortune is tied up in company stock and other illiquid assets. I'm certain that 10 million represents a significant amount of her available cash and she has money pledged to many other causes as well.

[ultraist]

34. Oprah's net worth is $1 billion

http://www.forbes.com/lists/results.jhtml?bktDisplayField=stringfield1&bktDisplayFieldLength=2&passListId=10&passYear=2003&passListType=Person&resultsStart=1&resultsHowMany=25&resultsSortProperties=%2Bstringfield1%2C-numberfield3&resultsSortCategoryName=name

This year, Winfrey became the first African-American woman to join Forbes' list of the World's Richest People with a net worth of $1 billion.

[LostinVA]

37. Good for her -- and she's a self-made woman

She's earned every cent of that billion. Good for her. She gives alot of it back, too.

[ultraist]

40. Agree. More power to her! First African American woman: world's richest

Yes, she does donate a lot to charity. This was ONE donation of many.

[Booster]

17. Why don't you go to her website and pledge whatever you can

rather than sniping at her for 10 million, which in my book is a lot of money.

[Barad Simith]

19. No, that's like 10 million dollars

The value doesn't change based on the assets of the giver. 10 million dollars is damn generous, no matter how rich she is.

[Scout1071]

22. That is a ton of money for anyone to give.

Why do you discount it? Just because someone's net worth is around a billion, doesn't mean they actually have a bank account somewhere with a billion dollars in it.

Have you given the equivalent of 1% of your total salary?

[LostinVA]

33. Knock it off. Every cent she has is money she earned

She's not a trust fund baby, and she puts her money where it can be truly used. No one has any right to bash Oprah for "only" giving $10,000,000. What a nasty comment.

[madmax]

38. Sheeesh eom

[Egalitariat]

42. How anyone can knock a $10,000,000 gift is beyond me***

nm

[Bluebear]

43. What a horrible sentiment. nt

[Barad Simith]

18. FEMA refused to let the money through, forced her to take it back

told her "we got everything under control here ma'am"

[The Backlash Cometh]

20. She should start by creating her own rescue team.

[tuvor]

21. Oprah's a corporation. So...

...where are all the "Oprah Inc. can afford more" posts?

There were so many such posts when Wal-Mart donated millions. ("That Walton family's worth billions!" I seem to recall reading.) Sure, Oprah Inc's not as moneyed, but the question remains. Oprah Inc can afford more, so why aren't they?

Really, as long as each company can "afford more," what's the difference?

Consistency, people. Consistency.

(FWIW, I regard it all as a red herring. The question shouldn't be "how much can you afford," but rather "how much is appropriate?")

Just my observations, flawed as they may or may not be.

[I Have A Dream]

24. It didn't have to give ANY money. If they were just doing it for...

the publicity, they could have gotten away with giving a much smaller amount and still looked good.

[Jacobin]

23. Wow. One percent of her net worth

(and a tax deduction to boot!!)

Nice, but not as nice as a lot of folks in Louisiana who are helping Katrina victims and spending far more than one percent.

[ananda]

25. Yeah,

100 m would only be 10% of her worth.

If 10 m is only 1% of her worth, that would be like me donating $100. I've already donated more than that, so as a percentage of my income, I've donated more than Oprah.

Sue

[yvr girl]

58. Net worth is not the same as income

Net worth is her total accumulated wealth. Her personal share of her company. Her home. Her assets and investments, etc. Unless you're really young, I doubt your net worth is $10,000.

$10,000,000 is a generous donation.

[ultraist]

44. That donation is just one of many she's made this year.

How much of her net worth should she give away to charities? How much of your net worth do YOU donate?

[Scout1071]

45. And, you've given 1% of your net worth?

As I posted earlier in this thread, net worth and actual dollars in the bank are two totally different things.

She's been extremely generous to donate $10 mil. Wal-Mart initially donated something around $1 million. Disney - $2.5 Million. Just for comparison.

[I Have A Dream]

26. I really don't understand all of the negative posts. She didn't have...

to donate ANYTHING! I'm sorry, but this bashing of Oprah just doesn't make any sense to me. (And, no, I'm not an Oprah fan!)

Could she have given more? Yes. Could she have given less or nothing? Absolutely. Was it an extremely generous thing to do? In my opinion, absolutely.

We have REAL enemies who deserve our condemnation. I don't think that she's one of them. This is a perfect example of "No good deed goes unpunished."

[progressoid]

27. I agree - n/t

[ocean girl]

28. Ditto. Give her a break, for god's sake!

How much did your favorite celebrity/politician/minister give?

[Catchawave]

30. I agree Dream...

That was very nice of her, she didn't have to do a thing :hi:

[LostinVA]

36. I agree -- what a bunch of NASTY comments

OPrah is not a corporation, she is a PERSON. She runs and owns a corporation. And every cent she has is money SHE earned. The people at Wal-Mart who gave that money didn't earn that money -- Sam Walton did, and he's dead.

Plus, unlike Wal-Mart, Oprah has consistently given huge amounts of money, time, scholarships, etc. back to the minority, female, and poor communities (often all three!).

The Oprah bashing on DU consistently makes me nauseous. People don't like a self-made woman, do they, Oprah and Martha?

And, I'm also not a fan of her show....

[cantstandbush]

39. I think you call it "envy." What have the naysayers given, I wonder?

Our nation is so full of envy, greed, selfishness it sometimes overshadows all the good that exists in America. No wonder a GW Bush could be elected, selected, appointed President.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

29. Oprah 10, Bush 0

Bush should give up all of his wealth, and quit waging wars.

[cantstandbush]

35. Good. She should use the money to buy several tracts of land

to build decent housing for the working poor who were displaced. They could live in the homes for five years and begin to pay modest mortgage after that. Most really just want a helping hand and are too proud not want to be paying their own mortage. It gives them a sense of independence.

[Missy Vixen]

50. I believe she's already working with Habitat for Humanity on this issue

>Most really just want a helping hand and are too proud not want to be paying their own mortage.<

If these people end up getting houses through Habitat for Humanity, they will be asked to put "sweat equity" into the home as a condition of ownership, as well as paying a nominal mortgage.

Julie

[bigwillq]

41. Nice job, Oprah.

Thank you.

[all.of.me]

46. wow. that's great. i hope others follow her example...

...especially the administration. oh! what was i thinking?!?!?! silly me.... :crazy:

[Heewack]

48. Would it be wrong to say "attention whore"?

Sorry, but I don't care whom it is there is no need to broadcast what you give.

[Booster]

51. She wasn't exactly broadcasting/bragging about the amount she

was giving, she was inviting her entire audience (millions of people) to also give whatever amount they could. Do you really think Oprah needs publicity?

[ultraist]

53. Oh, please, she gave 10 million dollars for attention?

Someone donates 10 million dollars and you are speculating on their motives and calling them a "whore?"

[Barad Simith]

56. Yes. It would not only be wrong to say "attention whore"...

...it would also be mean-spirited and petty.

The woman gave 10 million dollars. She deserves a collective thank-you.

[Ilsa]

54. This is wonderful. I don't care what her motives are (supposedly)

or anything else. $10 million will help alot of people. I think it's very generous of her to help out.

[fredblogger]

55. But still....

$10 million is how much Oprah's real estate investments appreciate in 1 month.

I wanna see some of these rich people give something that HURTS.

But still...$10 million is quite a bit of cash and it's generous of her to GIVE IT AWAY.

[Guaranteed]

57. This just in: U.S. government burns Oprah's ten million dollars nt